Blackburn 4 - Arsenal 3

ROVERS BEAT GUNNERS!!!!

We can only wonder what was said in the dressing rooms at the half time break, as Blackburn turned around a 2-1 deficit, taking all 3 points, emerging victorious against an Arsenal outfit lacking the confidence of a top 4 footballing team, 4-3.

With David Goodwillie and Dunn failing fitness tests, Yakubu was handed a debut start up top, with Jason Lowe sitting in midfield for Blackburn.

With the Ewood faithful in full voice following a vocal protest outside the ground, Arsenal were always in for a tough encounter, with Blackburn Manager Steve Kean fighting calls for his job, whilst senior Rovers players coming out and insisting they are behind the Scot.

Arsenal took early control of the game, free-flowing football they have become renowned for dominating early procedures. Gervinho looked lively, whilst Van Persie attempted to break at every opportunity. His cause was helped by Arshavin, the Russian's pace testing Salgado. However it was Song who unlocked the Rovers defence to create the first key opportunity. A surging run ended with a delightful throughball for Gervinho, scoring his first goal after his shot took a minor deflection of Chris Samba. 1-0 Arsenal

Rovers were shaky early on, but signs of an attacking threat came through wingers Ruben Rochina and Junior Hoillet. Both players were lively, taking on their man at every possible opportunity. However a setback for Rovers early on, as Salgado was forced off the pitch, replaced by Serbian Radoslav Petrovic. Lowe slotted into right back whilst Petrovic filled the midfield.

Minutes later, scores were levelled. Junior Hoillet picked up ball in midfield, the Arsenal defenders peeled off, expecting a trademark surging run, however Hoillet split the defence with a deft pass, finding Yakubu who cheekily trickled the ball with the outside of his foot past Sczcesny and into the far corner of the net. 1-1

The crowd lifted as Rovers sensed Arsenal were vulnerable, however it was the Gunners who maintained the pressure. Givet looked vulnerable on the left flank, whilst Gervinho was a constant threat, moving across the front line with ease. With 10 to go in the first half, Arsenal reclaimed the lead. Aaron Ramsey raced down the right flank and into the box, cutting back for Mikel Arteta who had skipped past his marker, blasting into the top corner of the net. 2-1 Arsenal

You could sense there would be more goals in this encounter, and Arsenal would be counting their chances as they should of gone 3-1 up before the break. Arshavin found Gervinho, who decided to dance around in the box, with an unmarked Van Persie screaming to his right. A desperate lunge by Samba deflected Gervinho's attempt, and sent Rovers into the break down by 1.

The heat was turned up in the second, with some sharp words exchanged in the Rovers shed. Hoillet continued to pressure, whilst Formica decided to involve himself in the encounter. Rovers were given a free kick just outside the box on the right flank 5 minutes in. Up stepped Rochina, his chipped free kick sent into the back of the net by Song, an own goal. 2-2

The equaliser further livened up the atmosphere, both teams now pushing for the winner. Dann was proving to be immense in defence for Rovers, whilst the same couldnt be said for the Arsenal halves. Hoillet whipped in a corner with 30 to go, the loose ball finding an unmarked Nzonzi past the far post. His powerful drive found Yakubu sitting pretty meters out, and a touch offside, however the Assistant waved play on as Yakubu found the net, Blackburn 3 Arsenal 2

Martin Olsson was introduced into the game for Rochina, and the change had immediate results. Scooting down the right flank, Olsson skipped passed his marker, sliding down the by-line before cutting the ball back across goal. With the approaching Yakubu, Arsenal decided to be a bit generous and ensure the ball found the net for the second time, this Koscielny putting the ball in his own net. 4-2 Blackburn

Vukcevic found some game time for Rovers, whilst Arsenal started to push further up the field in the hope of drawing a goal back. Paul Robinson was on his toes though, 2 superb saves from Van Persie. Chamakh though found the net in the 85th minute, heading in from 6 yards out after out-foxing Givet. 4-3 Blackburn

The final 5 minutes plus the additional 4 felt like they went for an hour. Arsenal peppered the Rovers box, forcing Paul Robinson to pull out all the stops, including a 6 yard point blank save, whilst Mertesacker did his part, heading over from 4 yards, ensuring Blackburn take all 3 points and Steve Kean fights to live for another day!

Star Player

Yakubu- Took his chances, moved well off the ball and was a constant pest in the Arsenal box. If he can continue this then we may just have our 15-20 goal striker!

Player Ratings

Paul Robinson 8

Immense final 15 minutes ensured Rovers got all 3 points. Would be extremely dissapointed with his positioning on the first goal, and whilst conditions were not the best, his distribution was not up to his standards

Michel Salgado

Went off early, our worrying lack of depth might become an issue

Scott Dann 8

We have a player on our hands here. He is quality, has great positioning and is not afraid to make a tackle

Chris Samba 7

Led the troops well, just feel their is something missing to his game at the moment, maybe a lack of the Chris Samba agression of old?

Gael Givet 6

Looks to struggle with holding his width. Not sure if he has been given instructions to tuck in, just appears to leave too much space for the opposing winger

Steve Nzonzi 8

Very solid performance from the Frenchman. Took the game to his own, moved the ball well and countered the threat of Song coming through the middle

Jason Lowe 7

Did not see much of the young man at central midfield but did a real solid job when called upon at Right Back

Ruben Rochina 8

Another outrageosly talented player we have coming through. He turns his man with ease, and knows a pass when he sees one

Junior Hoillet 9

Please, contract, now, whatever he wants. A constant threat, can skip around the outside, cut inside, and slot a pass

Mauro Formica 5

Did not see him for 85 of the 90 minutes. Not impressing at the moment

Yakubu 9

Well well well. A bargin signing he may just become. What a cheeky finish for the first, and in the right place at the right time for the second

Petrovic 6

Starting to gel into the game. Still needs to work on his explosiveness, but his tackling and passing was much better

Your Comments (oldest first)

Too many high numbers for me. Arsenal were shocking. Rochina was useless. Never knows when to get rid of the ball. N'Zonzi was shocking first half, maximum rating of 6 for each of them!! Jason Lowe was brilliant, 8 or 9 for me! Rest I agree with!

The only reason we let him go is because of Moyes' stubborness, if you cross the line with Moyes it is goodbye as far as he is concerned. I always knew Yak for 1mil will be a bargain, and the two finishes sum him up really, clinical finisher, intelligence around the box and the poacher instinct, saw it in both his goals. As we say, Feed the Yak and he will score!!

Spurs fan. Great game. May be, I will start seeing some Blackburn games from now on. Atleast there is no hoofball now. Hoillet looks a good player. I see Hoillet feeding the Yak throughout the season. Thanks.

arsenal's awesome attack was matched by our good defense. Our good defense undid Arsenal's terrible defense. You're wrong about one thing today, though and that's hoilett. He gave the ball away numerous times and just stood there when it happened. But that's not the big thing. He didn't help Givet at all and he needs to learn that fast. Everytime the ball came to Givet's area, he had two arsenal players to defend. Do you want to try doing that?! He did not play bad at all. Hoilett needs to EARN a new contract after that performance.
SO happy with the result! Hate reading things like "arsenal beat themselves against a relegation-bound blackburn". Can they just give us a LITTLE credit?!
Also full credit to Steve Kean here. Job well done.

Terrific result today. Yakubu scored two that JRob would still be thinking about and deserves his 9 rating. Hoilett was a constant threat going forward but needs to protect his full back better if he's playing out wide. Amazing run by Olsson on the break for the second o.g. A really, really good day at the office:)

anybody else think that 6 for Givet is unfare, i thought he had an excellent 2nd half...! he made a lot of important interceptions and headers. Great finishes by Yakubu today. Really showed he is a natural goal scorer.

olsson is no LB but certainly better than hoilett in defense. i think olsson needs to start to give givet better cover,and of coz he can be a handful going forward on his own. we also need to sort out the defense, it's still surprisingly fragile given the quality of defenders we have. but great results today!

Well, a game of two halves! 1st half we were poor, 2nd half we were committed, confident and wanted to win!! Olsson coming on made us a better team, and i agree with Texas - Hoilett wasn't at his best, lost the ball too many times and then didn't track back... or are we expecting too much of him at his young age??

Yakubu's finishing was awesome, clinical. We missed this kind of striker for ages already. Forget about 90k pw Santa Cruz or Jason Roberts, Yakubu is what we need. Olsson and Hoilett playing on the wings will bring balance in attack, but they NEED to learn to pull back to cover the defence at times. Maybe we should protest every week!

Great to get a result like this, been a long time coming. I definitely think Olsson should be starting at LW and supporting Givet. As good as Hoilett is he doesn't seem to be able to track back enough as some have already stated. Keep feeding The Yak and he will score.

What a game this was! Yes we were under the kosh but we played some nice football, especially the counter attack which led to the second OG was one that Arsenal would be proud of! Good team performance. I thought Lowe did fantastically well in a position he's not too experienced in. He does seem like he has that natural ability to slot in anywhere he's asked to. If Yak keeps on putting away chances he could be the bargain of the season but won't get carried away yet! Was disappointed with Formica. After the first two games of the season he looked bright but he couldn't work his way into the past couple of games. Hopefully it's still just him adjusting to the prem and he will improve over the coming months. Rochina looks like a real gem but I spent a lot of time shouting at him to pass the ball only to see him hold onto it too long! When he sharpens up and gets that half second quicker we will have one hell of a player on ou hands. Not sure what is wrong with Givet in the first half at the moment but his second half performances have been great, hopefully he will find consistency as the season goes on. I also must say that Olsson is deserving of a starting spot. This game and the Fulham game he came on and added a new dangerous dimension to our side. Hoilett looked a bit more involved this time round but I still don't like the amount of time he spends ball watching instead of coming back and helping to defend!

Extra time nearly killed me, the atmosphere was immense and for those final 4 mins i could hear my heart pounding! Lowe did an outstanding job after Salgado went off, maybe not his preferred position but id gladly let him start in this role instead of Salgado. Robbo was excellent, Dann got himself in the right areas, Samba still not 100% but getting there. Rochina needs to pass more but hes a cracking player. Formica started well this season but has slipped last couple of games worryingly enough. Olsson deserves his spot in the starting 11! Yak Attack! superb =) Worryingly has anyone else noticed the apparent lack of fitness in the squad after 60-70minutes?

Arsenal were not that clever I admit but e are under selling our own boys here - uninspired in the first half but between minutes 45-70 we were absolutely rampant and every attack looked like it would bring a goal.

With regards to ratings I think our man got it pretty fair here. Sagna had to come off because Junior was running him ragged... the only one I would argue with is Givet as I felt he deserved more. He was doing the work of 2/3 in that second half and was easily a 9 for his second half display.

Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.